How to Write A Second Draft
Once you finish your first draft, the story still isn’t completed. You still have to go through and edit it and write several drafts before it’s ready to send to publishers, and even then you’ll have to go through several rounds of editing before it’s ready to be published.
To start, let’s discuss the difference between editing and drafts, because to be honest, I didn’t know until I did my research.
Editing is more just making smaller changes (such as grammar, switching around sentences, word choice, etc).
Drafts are more for enhancing your writing and making it a lot more detailed than the first draft. You’re also making sure all of the details are there and you’re not missing any vital information. It’s like serious rewrites.
When reading through your first draft, it’s very important that you’re just making notes of what you’re going to include in the story and not editing as you go. The notes should include what you’re going to keep, change, or delete and why you decided to make that choice, big twists you want to make, how to make the *word, phrase, paragraph, scene, chapter* better if you’re going to change it, rearranging entire paragraphs, etc. Make sure everything is kept on track for a smooth draft!
You should also take note of the bigger things you want to change (like adding in a plot twist or taking it out, changing character personalities, deaths, etc.)
While you’re revising, you should start with the big things first. If there was a problem that you got rid of, think of what you can fill that missing space with instead. For the reverse, consider what the prolem is and see how quickly you can make the solution occur and what the solution even should be.
While you’re writing the second, third and so forth drafts, you might realize that you either focused too little or too much on your subplots. They’re really important to have so that you’re not solely focusing on one thing, that makes for a very boring story, but you also don’t want too many because then things get really crazy and it’s hard to keep track of what’s going on. As you’re working through your drafts, you can add them in or remove them if they’re irrelevant, but make sure you have at least two subplots. You want subplots for character development, but don’t have subplots for the sake of subplots.
During the multi draft writing process, you may notice you’ll have to have to change the plot or even rearrange some scenes. Don’t be worried if the story as a whole changes entirely. That’s just part of the revisions process. As long as you’re happy with the outcome and it makes sense, then it’s good.
It’s going to take time to do, but you’ll end up with something you’re proud of and want to get published, so don’t give up on it! Once you’re at that point, it’ll all be worth it. Remember that the second draft may not be complete either, so just be prepared for multiple rounds of changes.
Good luck and happy writing!